Seven Thousand Steps
by Shining Zephyr
Summary: One chance reunion of Sean and Aaron Hotchner after Sean's release from prison leads down a road fraught with arguments, understanding- and recovery.
"Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you react to it." Charles R. Swindoll.

I don't know if I'll regret this, but heyo. Go me.

* * *

I. Serendipity and Impasse

It took a solid minute for him to realize who he had just seen, his hand gripping the Styrofoam coffee cup and stopping on the right side of the sidewalk. And even then, he had to turn around and do a double take.

For Aaron Hotchner to perform a double take, it had to have been someone welcome… or not.

Even _he_ could not figure out how to describe it, to be honest. Not that feeling that clenched his chest, not the one that seemed to crawl down his spine, and certainly not the one that told him to stop _fucking staring_ at the one he had just passed. Sure, the brain neurons were firing faster than Reid babbling about the chances of meeting someone you just happened to know on the road after— no, it was not even about that. It was about that… that look.

That exhausted look on the other's face made him backtrack. And he did not even have to go that far because the other had paused, too. Hand gripping his backpack and sunglasses over his eyes, he was clearly trying his hardest to avoid the world in general; he _had_ been succeeding until the profiler had caught his face in a glimpse. And in that moment, time seemed to stand _still_ \- what with barely a turn of his head and an inhale, the subject in question licked lips and closed eyes behind tinted lenses.

Aaron had now turned around fully, his phone vibrating in his pocket. He ignored it.

The other must have clearly felt that infamous stare drilling into the back of his skull, because he finally turned around slowly and lifted those glasses past his eyes.

Sean Hotchner looked like _Hell_.

The coffee was dropped on the sidewalk from shock, spilling over his shoes and earning swears and growls from the passing people. Aaron either refused to acknowledge them or did not even hear them at all- his entire focus was on the one in front of him.

The last time Aaron had seen Sean was 2012- getting into that police car and driving off to prison for his assault and the theft. And even then, they had barely kept in contact, be it by choice or by whatever other means. And in those four years, enough had definitely happened to Hotch as it was. But he had no damned clue what had occurred in prison to Sean, be it him keeping quiet about it, or being forced to… no.

That could come later.

The noise that escaped Aaron was something akin to confusion, vocal. Foreign.

"Sean?"

Brother Hotchner refused to move. There was something there, something that made him want to _run_. Both away and towards his elder brother. Sean could not be sure entirely if it was one or the other at that point, mainly because his legs would not work with his brain. All he could do was stare at his sibling as a deer in headlights would with a car. And thank god his legs refused to obliged to any sort of demands his brain screamed right then because Aaron was striding towards Sean with a speed the ex-prisoner did not know he was capable of.

Then again, Sean really had no idea what Aaron could do at the current point in time because besides prison for four years, there was another… _how many_ years after the fact that he had to catch up on?

His brain seemed to altogether _quit_ right then, because when he blinked next, Aaron was right in front of him. He was a mere foot away with that intense profiler stare that could crack anything with the right amount of vocal pressure, and it _worked_. Coworker or serial killer, it _fucking worked_ , and even Sean knew that. His hand seemed to white-knuckle the backpack he was holding, the weight of ten years being carried suddenly instead of the clothing on his back.

"…Aaron?"

There was not much that could be said right then, between either of them. Aaron felt his phone vibrate once again, and Sean ducked his head slightly. The older one instantly noticed the scars, the far more submissive look down at the concrete then. A clear shot of confidence dropped… taken? He could not tell; his brain was firing too too many messages too quickly now as well. He opened his mouth, the phone vibrating a third time. With a soft sigh, Aaron closed his eyes. Fine time for a fucking _case_.

"Listen, Sean…"

A headshake— Sean stared down at the street again with a hoarse laugh. "Look. Just— just call me. Later or whatever. Or I'll call. Okay? Is your number still the same?"

There was _so much_ that needed to be said. _So much_ to catch up on, and they had the wrong time and oddly the right place.

"Do you have a place to go?"

Sean shrugged slightly. "I'll find one. Cheap-ass hotel won't be so bad now, will it."

Aaron opened his mouth to counter this, but the phone impatiently interrupted his thoughts. " _Fuck_ ," he cursed softly, finally digging out the device and jamming the 'give me a minute' message. "I'm serious; do you have _somewhere_ to go."

There was a lip bite and a soft crease of a frown, and the agent closed his eyes in exasperation. Stubborn _bastard_ of a man Sean was— no. How they _both_ were. Another quiet swear to himself escaped, and Aaron shook his head. Sean could only sigh quietly himself now. "I'll _find_ one, bro. 'm not a kid— I can d—"

"Shut up," Aaron muttered. "Just."

He was already gliding fingers across the keyboard of his phone, looking back up at Sean. "I want you to find a hotel, and I want you to put it under my name. I'll get you my card number later or— hell. I'll figure something out. Just find someplace to stay here for a while and _call me_."

The younger sibling opened his mouth, but Aaron shot him a look. The mouth shut before he nodded slightly and swallowed. The gaze softened just slightly before he was suddenly embraced. It was quick, tight, before Sean released him. A moment too fast.

"I'm sorry," was the mumble that escaped before Sean had dissolved back into the crowd of pedestrians.

It was only a minute before Aaron looked down at his phone and crossed the street with a sigh and the barest escape of a growling noise. Despair? Anger? He didn't know. But Sean would have to wait the _one time_ Aaron didn't want him to because of this job.

And for once, the job made him furious.


End file.
